The document discusses strategies for creating evergreen content for blogs to attract search engine traffic and build a regular readership. It emphasizes researching keywords, optimizing pages for search engines through titles, headers and internal links, developing long-form content on topics people search for regularly, and promoting content through social media and other referral channels to engage readers over time. The goal is to become an authority on a topic by creating helpful, informative content that search engines and readers want.

1. European Blogger Summit
Blogging SEO
Gareth Cartman
Director of Digital Marketing
Clever Little Design
Barcelona 24-25 September 2013
Clever Little Design Limited
Communications House, Maidenhead, SL6 2LS
01628 627853 www.cleverlittledesign.co.uk

2. Most blogs live here…

3. Give people what they want… (be the jelly)

4. What do our readers want?
People want shared
sentiment, distraction, a
dvice… and help.
So blog for them, not
yourself.
Even if they’re strange.

5. Where do our readers come from?
SOCIAL
Twitter, Facebook, P
interest, Linkedin, G
+, etc.
Distraction
Similar sentiment
Viewed as RSS feed
Emphasis on catchy
titles & shareable
imagery
SEARCH
Google, Bing, Yande
x, etc.
Information, helpful
advice, facts &
research
Emphasis on
keywords in
strategic positions
DIRECT
Typing the URL or
bookmarked
Obviously a
fan, coming back
for more…
Emphasis on
regularity &
freshness
REFERRAL
Someone has linked
to your blog
Visitor: Curiosity
Linker: you are a
reference
Emphasis on
linkability – having
quality content

6. It’s never just one channel…
SOCIAL SEARCH DIRECT REFERRAL
SEARCH SOCIAL
DIRECT DIRECT
DIRECT
SOCIAL
SOCIAL

7. Different types of content
SOCIAL SEARCH DIRECT REFERRAL
Sentiment
Opinion
Shareability
Conclusions
Distraction
Information
Advice
Action
Facts
Depth
Freshness
Fun
Distraction
Community
Personal
Reference
Advice & Opinion
Helpful
Community
Resource

8. The path to a regular, engaged readership
SEARCH SOCIAL
NETWORKFOLLOW-UP
ENGAGE
DIRECT REFERRAL

9. What do search engines want?
They want to understand:
• … what you’re writing about (CONTEXT)
• … how good your writing is (AUTHORITY)
• … how popular your writing is (AUTHORITY &
TRUST)
They want to present:
• … the most useful websites
• … the most informative websites
• … the best user experiences
SEARCH
Google, Bing, Yande
x, etc.
Information, helpful
advice, facts &
research
Emphasis on
keywords in
strategic positions

10. What do social users want?
They want:
• … real people
• … distraction, similar sentiment
• … a discussion
They are more likely to visit & share if…
• … they agree (or disagree) strongly with you
• … you have a catchy headline & imagery
• … you give them the opportunity to share!
SOCIAL
Twitter, Facebook, P
interest, Linkedin, G
+, etc.
Distraction
Similar sentiment
Viewed as RSS feed
Emphasis on catchy
titles & shareable
imagery

11. Social article:
“What I had for breakfast”
Search article:
“Breakfast recipe for
diabetics”

12. What Search Engines Are Looking For

13. Search term “Coping with Diabetes”
Search engines are simple creatures
Page title…
Web directory structure
Assess the competition……

14. Search term “best cocktails for diabetics”
No exact match
Therefore – big sites win.
Great opportunity

15. Search term “low-carb Moroccan recipes for
people with gestational diabetes”
Wow, that’s long-tail
Lower competition
Mixed page titles (no exact match)
Higher chance of clicking around

16. If you’re not saying it…
how will anyone know?
And you won’t rank for it
Think page title, H1, text, internal
links

17. Getting noticed by search engines
Page titles
H1 tags
Keywords in the text
Social Signals
Sites linking to you
Helpful content…
… Evergreen content

18. Evergreen Content
Evergreen content
never dies
… if it’s any good

19. Evergreen content

20. Evergreen content

21. Evergreen content – what is it?
Permanently useful or
Recurring Usefulness
Helpful
Informative
Advice
A reference that references
Long & Detailed

22. Everyone is talking
about it
Links
Social mentions
Emails (Gmail)
Citations
References

23. Unique
A new angle
Why you, and not another blogger?
Differentiate

24. Inspiration for evergreen content
diabetes
cooking
recipes for
how to cook for
best
diabetics
food for
diets for
foods to avoid for
recipes
diets
foods
Type 1Top 10 people with

25. Inspiration for evergreen content
Google Keyword Planner
Free keyword data
Understand how people search
Alternative keyword ideas
Location-based data

26. Keywords & their volumes
720 people in the UK search “recipes for
diabetics” every month
480 people search for “diets for diabetics”
But that search volume increases significantly in
January (of course)
10 searches / month is not insignificant
Even keywords without volumes do get searched
for

27. Ubersuggest.org

28. Keyword research
What would Sherlock do?
Research your keywords
Research your competition
Google Adwords & Ubersuggest.org
Visualise & Develop
Investigate
Other tools:
- Wordstream (paid)
- SEMrush (paid – top 10 results free)
- SEObook / Wordtracker (free)

29. Implementing keyword research
• Define a schedule for evergreen content (Monthly? Weekly?): QDF
• Get high volume keywords into page title & header (often the same on
blogs)
• Get low volume keywords into the blog copy itself
• Use low volume keywords in H2 (sub-headers)
• Link from other blog posts to your evergreen content
- internal links should use ‘anchor text’ (keywords as hyperlinks)
- internal links tell search engines ‘look at this page, it’s important!’
• Keep evergreen content ‘evergreen’
- use a navigation category, such as ‘resources’
- ensure it doesn’t drop down the site hierarchy
- keep linking to it
- update it regularly

30. Going evergreen
TOPIC
KEYWORDS
CONTENT
KEEP THE CONTENT
UPDATED
REGULARLY
DEVELOP
FURTHER RELATED
CONTENT
Choose a topic you
know well
Research your article’s
audience
Unique, long-
form, keyword-rich
PROMOTE
Social, bloggers,
forums, links
Use feedback &
comments to
help you
develop your
content
Become the
authority on the
topic

31. Developing evergreen
CURATE
CO-CREATE
SHARE
CROWDSOURCE REGULARITY
Develop relationships
with other bloggers
Don’t always write on
your own. Collaborate.
Don’t always write for
yourself. Share your
knowledge.
PROMOTE
Social, bloggers, forums
, links
Use your
community to
help you
develop ideas &
content
Query
Deserves
Freshness

32. SEO Fundamentals for blogs
• Page titles: for competitive keywords
• Headers (h1 tags): for competitive keywords
• Headers (h2 tags): for sub-headings & less competitive keywords
• Alt tags on images: for usability & competitive keywords
• Internal links: link to blog posts you want to rank using relevant keywords
• Domain names: get a unique domain name
• URL structure: ideally it should be domainname.com/category/page-title-here
- wordpress is great for this
- clear URLs are better understood by users & search engines alike
• Categories: use them & let search engines index them
- lets search engines find older articles more quickly
- the quicker your posts are found, the better
• Support evergreen content with related blog posts
- link between the two
- e.g. top-level “recipes for diabetics page” supported by actual recipe sub-pages
• Have a Google Plus profile
- use “rel=author” tag on your name for every blog post
- this ensures that your photo appears in SERPs and your content is not plagiarised

33. To summarise, SEO is…
Learn it… (research)
Say it… (write)
Shout it (marketing)

34. How to get a blog to take off
It takes time…
And…
• Hard work & persistence
• An understanding of your readership, their
needs, their problems, their viewpoints
• A clean, optimised website with a clear
structure

35. Invest time in multiple channels
Every channel is
different…
Search engines for
information & help
Social networks for
community, shareability,
fun
Referring sites are
friends or citations

36. Learn from surprises.
Sometimes, shit happens…
40k likes. 1811 tweets.
Why?
Nobody else wrote about it…
Reddit… controversy…

37. 20% inspiration + 20% writing + 60% marketing

38. Blogs that are doing well… (inspiration)
How do people get
diabetes (3)
Pesto Vinaigrette Dressing
(1)
Statins and Leg Pain (4)
Medtronic Pump Colors (3)
Pioneer Woman Chili (4)
Minimed CGM (5)

39. Blogs that are doing well… (inspiration)
A day in the life of a
diabetic (8)
Diabetic blogs (7)
Diabetes paranoia (1)
White Coat Syndrome (7)

40. Blogs that are doing well (inspiration)
Ketone meter (1)
Home a1c test accuracy (2)
Diabetic donuts (2)
Diabetes medical devices
(3)
Blood ketone meter (4)
Diabetes 504 plan (4)

41. Blogs that are doing well (inspiration)
Pumps sex (1)
Insulin pump blogs (1)
Diabetes type 1 blog (1)
Insulin pump tubing (1)
C-section recovery (5)
Carbohydrate scale (5)

42. The path to a regular, engaged readership
Keywords research
Optimised pages
Optimised structure
SEARCH SOCIAL
Virality, Shareability
Catchy headlines
Understand audience
Meets user intent & expectations
Offers action (share, more info)
NETWORKFOLLOW-UP
Follow re-tweeters
Thank them, retweet them
Discuss on Facebook or G+
What ranks well? More posts
Traffic volumes?
Amend evergreen to optimise
ENGAGE
Subscription options (mailshot)
Social subscription
QDF
DIRECT REFERRAL

43. An Animas Keyword Cloud
DIABETIC(s)
DIABETES
Type 2 Diabetes
DIET PLAN
SHEET
Food list
Guidelines
Keyword Volume (phrase)
Diabetic diet 6,600
Diabetes diet 6,600
Diabetic diet plan 480
Diabetic diet sheet 390
Type 2 Diabetes diet 1,600
Diabetes diet plan 880
Diabetic diets 320
Diabetic diet food list 140
Gestational diabetes diet plan 140
Diets for diabetes 91
Diet(s) for
Diet plan for
Recipe for
Gestational
Type 1/2
Pre-
Controlling
Best
Low carb Carbohydrates
And carbohydrates
Keyword Volume (phrase)
Carbohydrate Counting Diabetes 28
Diabetes and Carbohydrates 28
Carbohydrate Counting 720
Diabetic Recipes 3,600
Diabetes type 2 diet plan 260
Gestational diabetes diet 720
Diet plan for diabetes 170
Type 1 diabetes diet 170
Diabetes 2 diet 110
Diets for diabetics 590
RECIPES